back to startpage                    WHO:
Forming a private non-profit club, no fees, open for every-body and with the help from experts we will

                        WHAT:
deal with everything in connection with tropical and subtropical agriculture for hobby. It may help commercial growers too as a sideline. 

                         HOW:
Existing and new plantations in different climatic areas of Gomera allow us practical work. At the moment over 140 varieties of tropical, subtropical fruit are planted. Literature in German, English and Spanish will be extended. And with our homepage we will 1999 change to a commercial form too.


At the Canary Islands we had a lot of agriculture. But only some crops like bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and flowers are important. And not many people do care about pesticides and heavy and one-sided fertilisation. Due to trade with America and back coming immigrants, mainly from Venezuela and Cuba, one can also find some tropical rarities. But contrary to Florida, where Cuban refugees started commercial plantations and nurseries or in the last decades in California with it´s CRFG, these are neglected, often cut down and forgotten in the Canaries.

The Botanical Garden in Tenerife, a "Bananera el Guanche" and private gardens, some of members of ATIC-CITA, can give a first impression about what can grow here. Looking into books and visiting FAIRCHILD TROPICAL GARDEN in Miami, FRUIT AND SPICE PARK in Homestead or WEST PALM BEACH TROPICAL CLUB, all in Florida U.S.A. leaves only the problem of choosing and getting the plants.

For commercial growing a lot of studies hade been made. In the Canary Islands we got two advantages. First, there is no frost. Second, there are many tourists keen to try and buy. Even the native people get much of their fruit and vegetables imported from far away. Thus the negative factors of higher wages and unfavourable, costly grounds could be more than compensated in the local market. But we didn't hear much about official efforts in exploring this sideline. The government mainly tries to prolongate subsidised exports and substitute bananas by other exported crops. Here we can come in one day. A private co-operation should take care of local marketing. At the moment all is more a private hobby. We should learn from the failures of communism and support a modest capitalist system. Also in the U.S.A. small farmers in the New England states are living well from roadside stands, specialities and direct marketing. while in the West big farms have to give up. More and more people demand clean, healthy food. Also biological growing isn't any longer a spleen of minorities.

We often talk with local people. For them our ideas are mostly too strange. Only a few would participate. There is more information coming, also about sidelines to agriculture like vacation at the farm, hiking tours, volunteers and jobs in connection with solar energy and all those alternative ideas.

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